The Supreme Court rejected the petition of the central government which requested for recalling the verdict of the court by which the court had directed that the three convicts in assassination case of Rajiv Gandhi who had been awarded death sentence will have the same commuted to life imprisonment. The apex court bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the center’s plea. The court had commuted the sentence of the three convicts V. Sriharan aka Murugan, T. Suthendraraja aka Santhan and A.G. Perarivalan aka Arivu to life term on February 18 referring to its January 21 verdict. The convicts had appealed for the commutation citing inordinate delay in the mercy petitions. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination happened in 1991. The special trial court ordered death sentence for all the 26 accused in 1998. The death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court for 4 convicts- Murugan, Perarivalan, Nalini and Santhan - while others got different terms of imprisonment.

01-Apr-2014Politics

Gujarat Model to burst soon: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi referring to the debacle of India Shining in 2004 and 2009 stated that in similar way BJP’s Gujarat model will burst after the polls. He while addressing a rally at Godda in Jharkhand stated that the BJP was fully relying on India Shining in 2004 but it didn’t work for them then. They repeated the same in 2009 but didn’t get results. Rahul Gandhi also specified that the Congress approached the people with MNREGA and got the votes. He said that the BJP was inflating the balloon of the Gujarat model now and it was soon going to burst. He also spoke about what the UPA I and UPA II did in the past 10 years. He also specified that the UPA III if voted to power will pass the Women's Reservation Bill.

01-Apr-2014Politics

Voting starts in the Bru camps in Tripura

The election for the 16th Lok Sabha is going to kick start from April 7, 2014 but the voting has already started somewhere in India. The Brus from the state of the Mizoram, who had to leave their land and are staying in six relief camps in North District of Tripura casted their votes using postal ballots. They being voters of Mizoram facilitation centers for postal ballots have been set up by the Election Commission in the six camps and voting is done in the supervision of the Assistant Returning Officer from Mizoram. There are as many as 35000 persons living in the camps at Ashapara, Hezacherra, Hamshapara, Naisinghpara, Khakchan and Kasco. Among these 11500 are eligible to vote. The voting will be done here by April 3,2014. The postal ballots will be taken to Mizoram and counting will be done on May 16.

01-Apr-2014Business

Key policy interest rates kept unchanged by the RBI

The crucial interest rates were left untouched by the RBI in its 1st bi-monthly monetary policy review much in accordance with the expectations. It also stated that putting a leash on the rates was not an option when the inflation was relaxing. The repo rate remains at 8%. This is the interest rate at which the banks borrow money from the RBI after paying. The reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 7%. This interest rate RBI pays to the bank when they keep the extra funds with the central bank. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is static at 4% while the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate remain at 9 %. Thi means the EMI will remain as it is. On January 28, the central bank had increased the short-term lending and borrowing rates by 0.25%.

01-Apr-2014Sports

IABF suspended with immediate effect by the sports ministry

The Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) has been suspended with immediate effect by the sports ministry. IABF had already received termination by AIBA. This was taken as an action when the IABF failed to comply with the guidance of the sports ministry. It earlier had received suspension orders in December 2012. The sports ministry had asked IABF to hold elections and to see to it that its constitution complied with the National Sports Code. IABF was asked to cancel off the elections which were held on 23.9.2013 and announce fresh elections complying with the provisions made by the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 which would be supervised by an independent Returning Officer. IABF was also advised by the AIBA to have elections after there were required amendments in the constitution but it did not pay heed to the direction.

01-Apr-2014Science and Technology

Slimmest phone in the world ELIFE S5.5 launched by Gionee

Gionee has unveiled the slimmest phone in the world, the ELIFE S5.5, in India. The phone has 5.55mm body. It will hit markets in India from mid-April and will be priced at Rs 22,999. The phone combines best of designs and has not compromised on hardware and software. The company started operations in India a year back. The phone also has a very fast processor. The technical specifications are as follows: